Death threat e-mail scam: Pay up, or you will be 'asserinated'

Scammers have taken their business a step further with a death threat e-mail from a supposed hit man willing to take money to avoid having to kill his intended victim.

By Greg Smith

Those who frequently use e-mail may be accustomed to the various Internet scam messages that clog their in-boxes.

Many of these unsolicited e-mails originate in Nigeria and are known as advanced-fee fraud e-mails, or 419s. They inform victims they will receive a large sum of money -- asking only that they send an advance fee before the money can be transferred to the victim.

Now, police and the state attorney general say, scammers have taken their business a step further with a death threat e-mail from a supposed hit man willing to take money to avoid having to kill his intended victim.

"I wish to inform you that your destiny lies in your hands now," one version of this death-scam e-mail reads. "You don't know me and can never know/see me in your life time. A contract of $90,000.00 has been signed for me to asserinate (sic) you in the next few days ..."

Obvious grammatical and spelling errors may not be the only frightening thing about the message, especially to senior citizens, Norwich Police Detective Mark Lounsbury said.

"This is a new twist, something that feeds on the fear factor," Lounsbury said. "Some may have a real panic over it."

Lounsbury said the scams come in many forms, including debt elimination e-mails, counterfeit cashier's checks, fake Internet business opportunities and Internet extortion.

"Among ever evolving and ingenious e-mail scams, this one seems particularly extreme, state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said of the death scam in a warning this week, saying at least one Connecticut resident had received the threatening e-mail. "But the response should be the same: Do not reply to the e-mail and report the incident to the law enforcement authorities."

The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center said it is aware of nearly 1,000 complaints about the e-mail nationwide.

Peter Reilly, 23, of Glastonbury was at the computer lab at Otis Library in Norwich Friday, where he said he didn't plan to open any scam e-mails.

"You can spot them right off the bat," he said. "You have to pretty gullible to think any of this stuff is real. I got one from a king or something. It made me laugh."

Reach Greg Smith of The Norwich (Conn.) Bulletin at gasmith@norwichbulletin.com